All those concerned must give attention to reduce the number of pending cases in the courts but justice delivery system cannot be allowed to be halted, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta said here on Saturday.
“Forty per cent of criminal cases are compoundable offences which can be disposed of through Lok Adalat as pre-ligigation stage and the judiciary and investigating agencies will be left with more time to dispose of the remaining cases. Junior advocates can also participate in this system”, Mr. Justice Sengupta said. He was speaking at a meeting organised by the Bar Association of Visakhapatnam after inaugurating the 12th Additional District and Sessions court and some facilities on the District Courts Complex.
On pendency of cases, he said it could not be avoided because the judge-population ratio at present was 12 for a million population against the required 50 judges for one million as suggested by the Supreme Court and also the Finance Commission.
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The 13 Finance Commission allocated Rs. 5,000 crore for judiciary and he hoped the 14 Finance Commission would provide more funds.
Mr. Justice Sengupta said 26 per cent of the population (out of the 120 crore according to the 2011 census) have disputes but only 0.8 per cent of them approach the courts of law.
How the rest was getting redressal was not known.
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Justice delivery system could be taken to the doorstep of the people with Lok Adalat solving the cases as pre-litigation matters and for this active cooperation from the bar and judicial officers were required, the Chief Justice said.
District Portfolio Judge L. Narasimha Reddy, Principal District Judge K. Siva Prasad, bar association president N.V. Badarinath and others spoke.
Earlier Mr. Justice Sengupta inaugurated the 13 Additional District and Sessions Court at Gajuwaka.